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The Last Best Cure

My mom, 82, recently said something that stuck with me. "It used to be that we did everything once, and now we have to do everything twice. Nothing gets done right the first time." Call the cable man back. Track a lost package. Call the Rx in again. Is it true, do we have to do many things twice today? And if so, is it an invitation for frustration -- or mindful awareness?

We work hard to remove whatever is toxic from our lives. We buy organic foods, we remove chemicals from our home. We eat green, we clean green. We buy organic cosmetics. But we put very little concerted effort into trying to go green in our minds. When our thoughts are relentless and pervasive, How do we Green the Mind? Where is the green solution for toxic thinking?

Multiple studies tell us that rates of both stress and chronic illness are climbing, for both adults and young people. We're facing an American Stress-Illness Crisis. Why? Stress, it turns out, is as damaging to the immune system as are environmental hits and viruses. The good news: we can change our mind-state, and change our well-being and health.

How do our thoughts affect our cells? Scientists are beginning to unlock the answers, in ways that promise to help us take life-changing steps to improve our health. When Western medicine has done what it can, your brain may be your last best cure.

How we handle the wear and tear of simple day-to-day stressors predicts whether we'll suffer from depression and anxiety 10 years from today. Our long-term emotional health has less to do with what happens to us than with how we react to what happens to us. Learn to manage your reactive, ruminating thoughts to protect your mental health and well-being long into the future.

When we agonize and ruminate over past decisions that didn't turn out the way we wish they had we harm ourselves and our health. We get caught on The Pain Channel. And that's no way to live. Especially as we age, we do better to let go of those "what if?" tapes. Are you ready to let go?

Researchers say that when we recall our most vivid, positive memories and associate those memories with physical objects or locations that surround us, it makes it easier for us to not only recall those uplifting, positive memories, but "to elevate our mood in the long-term."